Red Bull taps Hartzell for race plane props

As the propeller partner, Hartzell will provide its three-blade structural composite propeller known as “The Claw,” carbon fiber composite spinners and lightweight governors to each race team.

Hartzell will also provide complete propeller technical support and maintenance services for all of the entrants for races in the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Poland, the United Kingdom, the U.S. and China.

Hartzell Propeller President Joe Brown said, “We have good friends flying in the Red Bull race series, and most have depended on our high-performance aerobatic prop for years. This new race series gives us a chance to work more directly with these incredible aviators and to experience our advanced technologies achieve the ultimate in performance.”

Hartzell’s three-bladed structural composite propeller was nicknamed “The Claw” by famed aerobatic performer Sean D. Tucker due to its high thrust and low gyroscopic forces and inertia, according to company officials.

“As a company staffed by pilots and aviation enthusiasts, Hartzell shares in the anticipation of a competitive, safe and exciting race season. We are ready to support Red Bull Air Races and each race team as they begin their quest for the championship,” Brown said.

The Red Bull Air Race World Championship will be back in the skies in February 2014 with a seven-race World Championship staged in six countries on three continents. In the sport, created in 2003 and watched by millions of fans, the competitors race in high-performance airplanes flying between 15 and 25 meters above the ground and navigate an obstacle course of air gate pylons at speeds of up to 370 kph.

The series will be back with defending World Champion Paul Bonhomme among the 12-pilot field after it took a three-year break to improve safety and reorganize. There will be a number of technical improvements, including standard Lycoming Thunderbolt engines and Hartzell propellers for all pilots, changes to the lightweight nylon pylon material to make them even easier to burst apart if plane wings clip a pylon and raising the height of the pylons that the pilots pass through to 25 meters from 20.

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